The state’s biggest air fleet has been officially launched, as well as the Summer Fire Awareness Campaign.
The launch, on Tuesday 4 December, was attended by Minister for Emergency Services Lisa Neville, Minster for Environment, Energy and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio and Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp.
The fleet includes a mix of water-bombing, air supervision and aerial intelligence aircraft, 27 of which are helicopters and 22 are fixed-wing aircraft.
The fleet also includes Christine, who will join Hercules and Boomer, Victoria’s large air tankers, to supplement the first-response aircraft around the state.
Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said Victoria was leading the way in aviation innovation with the use of night-vision technology for firebombing and air intelligence gathering with aircraft and drones.
“Night firebombing in Victoria will be used as an extension of day operations, meaning aircraft will be able to assist ground crews on fires for longer. It will only be used in the right circumstances and on the right fires,” he said.
“The two Large Air Tankers will be available to respond to fires in Victoria from Wednesday. Our Aircrane Christine will be joined by Delilah, our second Aircrane in mid-December.”
The state’s summer fire awareness campaign, coordinated by the Department of Justice and regulation in collaboration with CFA, will also begin with targeted advertisements throughout the state.
This year’s promotion will again focus on the theme ‘The reasons are black and white’ and key components of the campaign will include traditional media advertising such as TV, radio, print, social media and outdoor billboards to promote bushfire and grassfire safety messages.
CFA’s social media will be a key promotional channel for promoting fire awareness messages.
Members of the public are encouraged to stay up to date with emergency warnings by phoning the VicEmergency Hotline on 1800 226 226, visiting emergency.vic.gov.au and downloading the VicEmergency App.